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Merits of instant replay a hot topic among Rays

ARLINGTON -- After Monday night's game ended on a controversial call, the subject of the day in the Rays' clubhouse was instant replay.

David Price said everybody wants the right call to be made, but they don't want that to take away from the flow of the game.

"I mean, I don't know, that's part of it," Price said. "That's part of the game. It either goes your way or it doesn't. I'm sure every team feels like it goes against them more often than not. But it is tough. You want to see the right call made in certain situations. Like last night. That was a very big part of the game for us, with Zo [Ben Zobrist] being 4-for-5 against Nathan, with two homers. That obviously was ball four, and we've got Longo coming up, who is 3-for-3 in that game. With runners on first and second, that's a position nobody wants to be in on the pitching mound."

Evan Longoria said he is against the idea of replay for ball and strike calls.

"I've always kind of been a traditionalist," Longoria said. "People make mistakes. You hate to see it happen on the other end, be on the receiving end of a bad call. But we all know in here that we've gotten some calls from time to time that have helped us win games. So again, you want the game to be played out as fair as possible.

"The best games are the games you don't realize the umpires are there. You just go out and play the game. And they don't get in the way. They just stay out of the way, do their job and stay out of the spotlight. Unfortunately, last night that wasn't the case. And hopefully we don't have to look back on today or yesterday and say that that was a big game."

Zobrist, who was the victim of the controversial called third strike Monday night, said he would like to see instant replay, and he believes that it is coming to Major League Baseball before too long.

"I think things like [what happened in Monday night's game] will be factored in when they're deciding how to add instant replay to the game," Zobrist said. "It's going to happen, I think. But it's just a matter of how they're going to administer it and whether teams will have a chance to challenge a call or whether there's certain parts of the game when they can convene and get the call right. I believe that they're going to do it sometime soon."

Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.